The British government announced it has launched an "urgent" probe into a video tape showing British soldiers abusing and mercilessly beating four Iraqi teenagers.
Images from the film showing British soldiers kicking, punching and striking young Iraqi civilians with batons, have been published by the News of the World.
A military spokesman in Iraq condemned "all acts of abuse and brutality" by British troops, claiming that the recent abuse scandal is related to a "tiny number" of soldiers, recalling similar remarks made by the U.S. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH when ABU GHRAIB abuse scandal first broke out in April 2004.
The Ministry of Defence is probing the allegation, which, according to News of the World, took place in southern IRAQ in 2004.
In the tape, described as a "secret home video" and apparently filmed for fun by a corporal, an unidentified cameraman is heard laughing and urging his colleagues on, the BBC said on its website.
British military spokesman Flight Lieutenant Chris Thomas, based in Basra, said: "We hope that the good relations that the multi-national forces have worked very hard to develop won't be adversely affected by this material".
In the film depicting a disturbance in a street in which a military compound is located, appears a groups of British soldiers chasing Iraqi teens, dragging them into the compound and beating them brutally with batons and kicking them, one in the genitals.
The tape, which shows a minute's worth of the attack, with 42 blows counted, was shown at the troops' home base in Europe before it was handed over by a whistleblower.
According to the paper, one soldier was shown twice kicking a dead Iraqi in the face.
Last year, three British troops were jailed and thrown out of the Army for their involvement in a prisoner abuse case in IRAQ.
